One more summer
of Hangdog Harry's horse trading saw a whole host of players
come through the swing doors at Fratton Park, but this time
he seems to have got the mix right, as his side stormed to
the top of the division and only lost their unbeaten record
last Monday to Bolton, when they let their first goal in
too.

The defence in front of ex-England keeper David James is
strong. S. Cumball returns and will face a gale of
opprobrium, which is only to be expected. As long as
it is restricted to his playing ability (or fading lack of
it), that is OK. With his renaissance in the Pompey
defence prompting calls for his return to the England squad
(little chance of that), he appears to be enjoying the
experience of playing abroad ... he must have thought
Portsmouth was reached by using the Isle of Wight ferry !!
His indecisive nature has probably made Mido come out with
his comment about Cumball being the easiest central defender
to play against. Some of the same issues can be aimed
at James, as his inconsistency cost him his England place to
Paul Robinson and his nickname of "Calamity" reflects how
many fans regard him.

Also at the
back are Linvoy Primus, Dejan Stefanovic, Glen Johnson and
Andrew O'Brien. Glen Johnson is on a year long loan at
Portsmouth, where he is trying to rebuild his career after
his move to Chelsea has been hit by off the pitch problems,
injury and an attitude problem which Jose Mourinho was not
willing to accept. The other three are central
defenders and with Stefanovic likely to clam the berth
alongside Cumball, it looks like the other tow might need to
settle for a place on the bench at best.

The midfield
will feature some of the following ... Matthew Taylor,
Richard Hughes, Gary O'Neil, Nico Kranjcar and Manuel
Fernandes. Taylor has been linked with Spurs in the
past and he possesses a very good left foot and hits a good
free-kick, as well as joining the attack to pop up in the
penalty area to add to the threat going forward.
Having played as a defender, he understands the defensive
side of the game. Hughes has been out of favour and
had gone on loan to seek first team football, while O'Neil
has been team captain and his Under-21 appearances have
established a good reputation of the busy midfielder, who
prompts and initiates some good moves. Kranjcar joined
in the summer, when he also played in the World Cup finals,
thanks to his Dad, who was the Croatia manager !!
Manuel comes from (no not Barcelona) Benfica, where he was
handed the mantle of the rising young star. The new
money behind Pompey must have waved in his direction, as it
is hard to know why anyone else would go there. Noted
as an attacking, creative player, he might be an unknown
quantity if he gets on the pitch.

Veteran
Andrew Cole was snapped up from Manchester City to add to
the England vets side. Hoping to improve on his
goalscoring to shots ratio, he loves to score against
Tottenham (being an ex-Gooner too), but Ledley and Daws
should tie him up with their tight marking. A trickier
opponent is Kanu, who has spider legs and they have got
Spurs tangled up in his web before now. Still has
ability to dribble the ball through the defence and finishes
well, as his early goal-scoring this season indicated.
Benjani Mwaruwari has also sparked into life, both as a
goal-scorer and goal maker. Zimbabwean international
Benjani has been described by Tainio as the strongest
forward he has come into contact with and that is what Spurs
need at the moment. His battle with our defence should
be an interesting one, while Tresor Lomano Lua Lua is a
player who can dribble at pace and can finish well, as he
proved at WHL last season. Another option alongside
one of the other forwards is the lanky Ivica Mornar, who is
more of a fringe player now, but uses his height to good
effect and can hold the ball up well.

Noe Pamarot,
Pedro Mendes and Sean Davis will be returning to White Hart
Lane for the first time. Pamarot left after being out
for nine months with his knee injury and was a solid
defender, who never really got a good run in the team, but
he is a strong tackler and has a fierce shot. Davis
was another hit by injury when at the Lane, but Spurs knew
he was carrying an injury when they signed him and did not
heed the caveat emptor understanding. Pedro Mendes was
the one who fell foul as Jol took over, as he preferred
Carrick, but now perhaps we could do with someone like the
Portuguese midfielder.

Tottenham
need to formulate their game plan, with the players they
have available and to step up the tempo. A faster
pattern of play could push Pompey back, but we lack the pace
of Lennon and without Berbatov, we lack a natural
goal-scorer. Defoe has to work for his goals these
days and Keano can be a bit to fancy, so looks daft when it
doesn't come off. Simple, good finishing will do and
that might help Spurs get a foothold in the match. The
first goal will be all important.

So, the joint
worst scoring record faces the best defensive record in the
Premiership. Want to guess the Spurs score ??
Well, for once, I think the records might not go to form and
for Tottenham, it is time they started to hit some sort of
form. Having spurned so many chances of late, some
must start going in, so I predict that it will finish ...

PREDICTION
: - Tottenham Hotspur 2 Portsmouth
1

For more information on
the opponents and their history, including full result history of
matches between the two teams, clickhere.

One of
the quickest goals ever seen at White Hart Lane gave Spurs the
foundation they needed to earn a victory over high-flying Portsmouth and
secure a valuable three points to take them out of the bottom three
places.

Murphy had a good game until
his legs went, which is exactly what happened with Didier Zokora for the
second goal, but more of that later.

Spurs got off a just the start they wanted,
with Murphy, Defoe and Berbatov linking to send Jermain wide and his
cross was headed at goal by the Bulgarian striker. David James
saved it, but could only drop the ball right in the centre of the goal
and as Glen Johnson tried to shield it for the keeper to pick up, it
squirmed away and Murphy showed the presence of mind to execute a neat
back heel over the line from a foot or so out.

It was a surprise that it took only 43 seconds
after 433 League minutes without a goal, but in the next minute, Paul Robinson
had to carefully watch a Kanu looping header and touch it over the bar.
At the other end, James also had to pull off a fine save and it was to
deny Murphy again, as he took the ball from a short corner routine and
curled a left footer towards the top corner. His fingertips just
managed to tip the ball over the top.

Jermain Defoe looked livelier than of late and
when Ghaly set him up, he got a shot on target, although it failed to
worry James and later, he was involved in a move to lay the ball into
Zokora's path, but the resulting effort went well wide. When Defoe
played Didier in again, he burst into the area and turned as Mendes
closed in on him and went to ground. At the ground and from a long
way away, it looked like a penalty and although Mendes was distraught,
not many other players complained that vociferously. On TV
afterwards, it was clear that no contact was made and I would not like
to see this become a feature of Didier's game, as he looks a class
player and gets knocked off the ball unfairly enough, as his pace makes
it difficult for opponents to take it off him by fair means.

The ref was sure and so was Defoe, as he
grabbed the ball and fired it low past the advancing James to make it
2-0.

But you know Tottenham. Just when it
looked like it was going so well, Assou-Ekotto showed a bit of
inexperience and stood off O'Neil, who knocked a right wing cross into
the danger zone and Dawson lost Kanu, who headed powerfully past
Robinson. It was a cheap goal to concede just six minutes before
the break.

At the start fo the second half, Chimbonda
failed to appear and he was replaced by Huddlestone, who slipped into
midfield, with Ghaly going to right back. It looked like an odd
move, as Huddlestone might have been employed in the defence, with Ghaly
retaining his position on the right of midfield. The side
certainly looked to have a better balance in the first half, but in the
second, Portsmouth got a grip and pushed Spurs back, trying to exploit
the unfamiliar position Ghaly found himself in.

Kranjcar especially perked up and took the ball
into forward positions on their left and tried to hit the target at
every opportunity. Not remembering him as an outstanding player in
the World Cup, he showed he might be a growing influence in the
Portsmouth side. To further increase the pressure on that side,
Stefanovic was replaced by the more attacking Taylor and the flagging
Sean Davis made way for the striker Benjani.

Zokora seems to be getting better by the day.
He launches into runs from deep in his own half and ends up laying the
ball off for team-mates to have shots, as he did with Berbatov, although
his effort was blocked for a corner. Sometimes you wish Didier
would have a shot himself, but when you know he scored once in two years
for St. Etienne and you have seen his shooting, you know why !!!
He could become the new Stefan Freund in that department !!

Jenas was showing his excellent energy and kept
going right until the final whistle. He got on the end of a move
when Murphy's ball in to King was laid back to him and he curled a shot
that James did well to keep out, but you wished that Jermaine had stuck
a bit more force behind it. He also had another shooting
opportunity right on the edge of the box, but a bad bounce just as he
was about to strike it, summed up his luck at the moment. He also
had a great run in injury time, where he weaved his way into the area,
but once there lacked the help and the composure to finish it, ending
with him shooting over the bar after he had held onto the ball really
well.

A bit of pinball in the Spurs box with 15
minutes to go caused some palpitations, but, as always, Michael Dawson
was there to block the shot from Benjani. It was his last
meaningful action, because as he rose to head another cross away, he got
Huddlestone's head at the same time and they both fell to the ground.
Tom got up with his head wrapped in vinegar and brown paper, while
Dawson toddled off with the help of two of the Spurs medical staff.
Davenport came on to take his place and did well against the physical
presence that Portsmouth were piling into the box to get on the end of
some long balls.

The game was quite open at this stage and Defoe
ran from halfway to jig round S. Cumball and Matthew Taylor before
hitting a shot that James kept out as it flashed across him. With
five minutes added time, Portsmouth threw everything at Spurs and when a
long right wing cross was flung in, Lua Lua got free at the far post and
only a fine save from Robinson to keep his firm header out kept the
three points with Spurs.

It was an important win for Spurs so early in
the season, as we can't fall any further behind those above us.
Not that we are likely to catch the top teams, but we are still a little
way off that. The need to start gathering points now, while we
have a run of winnable games (although Villa will be a tough one now),
was uppermost.

And the fact that we played a lot better today
and looked nicely balanced until injury hit (again). Let's hope
that this is the start of a run that moves us up the table to more
familiar echelons !!

Well, we needed that.
Three crucial points that lifts us up the table and instils
confidence for the return after the international break.
The early goal that we have yearned for over the last few
weeks finally came and enabled us to settle into an early
rhythm. The latest midfield combination worked well
together and fed the hungry-looking pairing of Defoe and
Berbatov. However, we couldn’t maintain the momentum
and looked nervy after Pompey deservedly pulled one back
just before the break. This was often the case in home
games we looked to be controlling last season, and we seem
set to have another campaign characterised by an inability
to kill teams off. Tiredness from Thursday’s European
exertions was a factor, but we simply didn’t keep the ball
well enough. The introduction of Huddlestone (is it me
or his he getting bigger?) helped in that respect, but the
ball kept returning to our half too quickly. Ghaly was
the worst offender – his distribution was shoddy throughout
– and as is so often the case, the disease proved catching,
as possession was continually squandered through lazy passes
and clearances that missed their target. We started to
play longer, and Berbatov’s touch deserted him as he tired
on his return from injury. Murphy’s undoubted quality
on the ball saw him produce another composed display and
vindicated Martin giving him a run in the side.

Still, this was an
encouraging performance. Portsmouth played well enough
to prove their early season form is no fluke, and we set
about them with a good tempo that prevented them settling
until we were two up. This proved that the team has
plenty of belief despite our league position, and hopefully
the goals will improve our confidence in front of goal.
Defoe looked sharp (as, to be fair, he has done all season)
and Berbatov displayed clever running and some nice touches
– the two combined well as early as the first minute to
create the opening goal, and their partnership looks to have
goals in it. Jenas produced one lovely curling
goal-bound shot, a panicky lofted finish after nice footwork
and a fluffed mis-kick with the goal at his mercy; a mixed
bag which aptly reflects his achievements in the shooting
stakes this season. Zokora made the headlines for his
theatrics that led to the crucial second goal, but his
all-round display was promising. He effortlessly beats
opponents with the ball at his feet – through sheer pace and
power rather than skill – and he possesses the energy to get
into the box like Jenas does. His passing, as it
should be, is simple, and he was solid in defensive areas.

The defence as a whole looks
extremely strong. Chimbonda did not have his best
game, but displayed a willingness to attack down the right
and is reliable when in our box. Assou-Ekotto is
similarly comfortable in forward positions, but he has
defensive frailties. He has been beaten by opposing
wingers in successive games now, and the ease with which
Gerrard and O’Neil produced crosses that led to goals is
worrying. He of course should not be isolated as he
has been in those instances, but he looks to be on his heels
and almost casual when facing a winger who has lined him up.
He nonetheless has improved with each game and overall looks
an improvement on the solid but limited Y-P Lee.
Ledley and Daws also go from strength to strength and apart
from Kanu’s fee header – what a relief he was the
former-Gooner to score and not another one – their
understanding was impeccable. Robbo proved his
credentials by making an excellent late save from Lua Lua’s
header, accordingly redeeming himself after his ill-judged
dash outside the box earlier in the half. In truth,
for all their possession, that was Portsmouth’s only real
chance in the second half and we were good value for the
points.

Let’s hope this kick-starts
our season and is the start of a good run in the League.

Philip
Oliver

What a tense second half. Portsmouth looked the side more likely to
score as the Spurs midfield went wandering. Dawson was outstanding in
central defence and was my man of the match. However, full marks
to Davenport who covered well when Dawson was forced to leave the
field.

My
colleague and I left the game not aware that the penalty was anything
other than deserved. When turning on the highlights later it clearly
revealed that Didier had dived. This left me feeling disappointed
because I prefer to believe that "diving" is a much part of play at
Spurs as tolerance of refereeing inconsistency and fulsome praise for
the opposition, in the aftermath of defeat, is very much part of
Arsene Wenger's game. I hope Martin Jol will stamp firmly on the
unsavoury practice.

Villa next and a real test with the other Martin proving what an
inspirational manager he is.